The present invention relates to the use of the internet, and in particular, to computer hardware and/ore software which searches for information available on the Internet.
One of the most remarkable applications of technology we have seen in recent years is the World Wide Web, often known simply as the xe2x80x9cwebxe2x80x9d. Nonexistent only a few short years ago, it has suddenly burst upon us. People from schoolchildren to the elderly are learning to use the web, and finding an almost endless variety of information from the convenience of their homes or places of work. Businesses, government, organizations, and even ordinary individuals are making information available on the web, to the degree that it is now the expectation that anything worth knowing about is available somewhere on the web.
Unfortunately, being available on the web, and being locatable on the web, are two very different things, as many a web user has discovered to his chagrin. The wealth of information that is the attraction of the web is also its major drawback. Unlike a library, where information is systematically classified and catalogued, there is no universal index for information available on the web.
To fill this void, numerous search engines are available to web users. A search engine is typically a web server which maintains a database of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) and some content information about each URL. A user wishing to search the web for some information may submit a search request to a web search engine server, which will then search its database for URLs matching the search parameters.
Because there is no uniform, systematic classification of web information, the content information used by a search engine may be text from a web page, metatags, or other information. Typically, the search parameters are simply key words. I.e., if the key words submitted by the user (or even some of the key words) appear in the search engine""s content information, the search engine will regard the URL as meeting the search criteria, and return the URL to the user. For many searches, this means that a very large number of URLs is returned.
Where many URLs are returned in response to a web search request, it is generally inconvenient for the user to browse each and every one of the URLs. The designers of web search engines have recognized this problem, and have attempted to address it by prioritizing the search results according to the number of keywords that appeared in the content information, the frequency of keywords used, or some similar criteria. By using such prioritization schemes, it is hoped that the URLs which most closely match the search criteria will be given the highest priority. These prioritization schemes provide some improvement over random listing of search results, but they are far from perfect in their ability to present the user with the most significant URLs first.
While not generally recognized, the shortcomings of current web search engine technology are particularly acute when applied to research-type searches. These are searches of a particular topic in-depth, in which it is usually necessary to repeat a prior search request in order to obtain the most current information, or to refine a prior search request after reviewing the results. A researcher who does this type of search in a traditional library can easily skip over material already viewed or eliminated from consideration, concentrating instead on material which is new. Current web search technology will simply do the search all over again from scratch, as if the prior search or searches were never performed. Therefore, the highest priority URLs returned by a web search engine are likely to be those already seen by the user, or eliminated from consideration.
There exists a need for improved web search capability, and in particular, an unrecognized need to perform research-type searches which take into consideration the results of previous searches.
In accordance with the present invention, when a search is made for information on the Internet, certain search parameters are saved in the user""s system. If a subsequent related search is made, these search parameters are transferred to the internet search engine and used to reorder or otherwise modify the search results.
In the preferred embodiment, every time a search request is made, an entry is added to a cookie. The added entry contains the search terms and date of search. The search engine re-orders search results by dividing the results into groups, in the following order of priority: (a) those URLs which are new since the last search; (b) those URLs which have been previously visited and have changed, the magnitude of change determining the ordering within this group; (c) those URLs which existed before the previous search, but have not been visited by the user; and (d) those URL""s which the user has previously visited and have not changed. In the preferred embodiment, the user may optionally manually specify certain URLs to be included or excluded.
In the preferred embodiment, information concerning prior searches is saved in a cookie on the client computer system, and passed to the search engine when making a subsequent search request. Additional information may be saved in a table of URLs visited by the client""s browser.
The ordering of search results in accordance with the present invention provides the user with greater control and more meaningful information than current search technology.
The details of the present invention, both as to its structure and operation, can best be understood in reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts, and in which: